Spotlight
by varietyofwords
Summary: Serena and Blair on Chuck and Blair. Post-finale. Oneshot. "So? Steal the spotlight," Serena instructs with a flourish of her hands and a laugh. "We both know you want to."


"Ah, Serena," Eleanor greets as the blonde breezes into the apartment towards her bedroom. Serena pauses, sets her bags down on the floor beside the doorway of the living room where Eleanor is seated in order to offer her hostess her full attention. "I was trying to tell Blair before she scurried off that Cryus and I would like to take the two of you to Drouant as a bon voyage dinner for you."

"Thank you, Eleanor," Serena replies. She sweeps her eyes across, spy Cyrus sitting in the room as well with a book in hand, and adds his name as an afterthought with a smile. "I'll let Blair know. I'm sure she'll be thrilled."

"Lenore, take Serena's bags to her room," Eleanor calls out shrilly as Serena stoops to gather her bags back in her hands.

The maid pops into the room without a sound and takes the eclectic mix of colors and designer labels back to the room that Serena has occupied for the last week. Lenore scurries away prepared to unpack the bags and hang up Serena's purchases for her.

Instead of following, however, Serena takes a detour down the hallway and pushes open the unlocked door next to her own. She begins to step into the room, freezes when she sees the image reflected in the large mirror in the corner of the room.

"Oh my god, B," she squeals in excitement, causing Blair to freeze in her ministrations and shift her gaze from the mirror to the blonde standing in the doorway.

"Knock much," she snarls sarcastically as she turns away from the mirror and from the blonde's prying eyes. She yanks her top down from where it had been pushed up under her breasts, adjusts it and the waistband of her skirt until every inch of her stomach is covered again.

"You're showing," Serena coos as she advances into the room careful to shut the door behind her. She pauses at Blair's retreating steps, and a look of concern settles on her face. "Is that why you wouldn't show me anything you tried on today? Because you look amazing, B."

Blair moves away from the mirror, moves towards the assorted packages strewn about the bed. She reaches into the largest one, pulls out a dress carefully wrapped in tissue paper. She begins to unpack the dress yet struggles to peel open the slippery paper. It is only when Serena's hand curls about her forearm that she realizes her hands are shaking. She glances up at the blonde, glares at her for interrupting her task as Serena slides her hand to hold Blair's wrist.

"B, you are perfect," Serena says assuredly with eyebrows knitted in deep concern. "Don't let some dress size or your mother or—"

The blonde pauses as her eyes widen in concern. She subconsciously strokes a soothing circle on Blair's wrist with one hand while moving the other to sweep her own long, blonde locks out of her eye.

"Is Chuck being weird about this? Because if he's telling you that your body isn't per—"

"No," Blair repudiates quickly. She forcefully yanks her hand out of Serena's grasp, steps out of the blonde's range of reach, and continues to unpack her purchases. "Chuck is great. He – he can't get enough of me. Really. I think I'm going to have to institute a sex fast."

The last sentence is meant to thrown Serena for a loop, make her squeal in disgust and focus on the thoughts she does not want in her head. But Serena offers her a dubious look in return and concern mounts inside the blonde as Blair rummages through her packages.

The black dress from Dior, the new headband to compliment her new coat from Saint Laurent, and the new pair of Louboutins are unpacked for their respective bags. Serena fingers the fabric of the dress, tries to read the sizing tag as discretely as possible whilst Blair places the Loubtoutins on the shelf in her closet. Her gaze shifts from the size, spies a small white bag nearly hidden by the now empty bags surrounding it.

Unable to translate the name of the store from French to English, unable to remember going into a store of that name during their shopping trip, Serena leans across the bed and plucks the small package up. She reaches into the bag, briefly reconsiders as she feels the softness of the fabric. She weights the idea that this could be a present from Blair to Chuck yet decides her curiosity is too great to be ignored and pulls the purchase out of the bag.

A small, luxuriously soft onesie unfurls across her lap. Her fingers trace the snaps running up one leg before moving on to thumb the bottom of the outfit. She marvels over the size, marvels over the idea there will be feet small enough to be covered by this soft, white fabric in only a few more months.

"What are you doing?"

Her revere is interrupted by the return of the brunette. Blair snatches the outfit off of Serena's lap, hastily packs the outfit back into the bag Serena found it in.

"When did you stop at a baby boutique? I would have gone in with you. You know I can't wait to buy things for the baby."

Blair refuses to acknowledge the blonde's question as she moves the small bag to the far side of the bed safely out of Serena's reach. Serena watches her curiously with a quizzical look on her face; a look that softens when she sees the way Blair's eyes sparkle in the light. She slips off the bed, wraps Blair up in a hug before the brunette can protest too loudly.

"You can buy things for the baby, B," Serena informs her gently as she tightens her arms about her best friend. "You can be excited. You can rub your happiness in everyone's face, if you want."

Blair freezes for a moment, feels the frantic beating of her heart in her chest before she wraps her own arms about Serena's neck tightly. She blinks back the tears, laughs softly at Serena's final instruction.

"I'm getting everything I ever wanted. Chuck and I are married. I'm running a successful company," she reminds Serena. She pauses, swallows the lump in her throat as the fear wells up inside her once more. "I never get everything I want. I just – I feel like I'm dreaming, and I'm going to wake up at any moment."

"Oh, no, B," Serena quickly replies. "You're getting everything you want because you deserve it. After everything you went through, after you fought for Chuck and he fought for you, you deserve to be happy."

"I thought – I thought the same thing last time and look at everything that happened. Chuck almost died. My ba..."

She trails off uncomfortably, closes her eyes at the sensation of Serena's fingers wicking away her tears. She steps out of Serena's grasp, takes over the role of wiping away her own tears.

"This is different, B. This time – Chuck loves you more than anything, and you love him, too. There's no question if you two belong together. I mean, you got Chuck Bass to commit to marriage, and he didn't run away screaming when you told him you were pregnant. Could you have imagined that when we were sixteen?"

Serena pauses, realizing she has gotten off track in the moment and wondering how to get back to her point. Blair shakes her head no in response because there was a time when even she didn't think the infamous womanizer of the Upper East Side was capable of anything but a one night stand let alone marriage.

"Although, I never imagine he'd be the one to walk down the aisle wearing white," Blair adds with a teasing smile.

"So let's celebrate that! Starting with you no longer hiding behind all these clothes during dinner at Drount."

"Your bon voyage dinner? S, that's for you."

"So? Steal the spotlight," Serena instructs with a flourish of her hands and a laugh. "We both know you want to."

Blair laughs at her joke and accepts Serena's hug when the blonde pulls her in for another one. One last tight squeeze and then Serena jumps apart, heads towards Blair's closet to help her pick out something to show off her new figure. She yanks a hanger off the rack, holds up a dress for Blair's perusal, and then shoves it into the brunette's hands when she hesitates.

"Go," Serena says as she turns Blair's shoulders and gently pushes her best friend towards the bathroom. Blair slinks away, but not before throwing Serena a look of annoyance over her shoulder. They both know Blair hates anyone picking out her clothes for her.

The dress falls about her body in a way that accentuates rather than obscures, a way that shows off her new curves without becoming skin tight. All eyes are on her, and her fingers begin to twitch with the need to pull and smooth as she waits for any of the three people in front of her to say something.

"You're beautiful, B," Serena says assuredly as she bounds across the living room to Blair's side. She loops her arm through Blair's, presents a united front towards the woman currently appraising Blair's body.

"You look wonderful, my dear," Cyrus informs his stepdaughter. His gaze flits from her to Serena to Eleanor before he comments about how lucky he is to have three such lovely dates for dinner tonight. Blair smiles appreciatively in response, but the smile is tight and controlled as she waits for Eleanor's final verdict.

"Well," Eleanor states as she gathers her handbag off the chaise lounge she had been sitting on. "Shall we go?"

Blair's smile falters and even the reassuring squeeze of her hand by Serena before the blonde slips away to grab her own purse from her bedroom cannot make it return. Cyrus leaves the room as well, heads downstairs to flag a taxi for the short drive to Drouant until it is just Blair and Eleanor in the room. Blair begins to turn on her heel, begins to follow after her stepfather or her best friend when her mother's voice bides her to stop.

"Blair," Eleanor says, trying to catch the attention of her only daughter. When Blair raises her chin and defiantly looks her mother in the eye, Eleanor's sharp eyes soften and a smile graces her face. "I can only hope I looked half a lovely as you do now when I was pregnant with you."

"Thank you for saying that," Blair stammers out as her mother embraces her in a tender hug. She relishes in her mother's words even after Serena returns forcing the two to break apart. Eleanor leads the way down to the awaiting car, and Blair and Serena fall into step behind her.

"B," Serena questions softly as they approach the awaiting taxi.

Blair waves away her concern, offers Serena a genuine smile as she waits for the blonde to slide into the taxi and sit next to her mother. She climbs in after Serena, sits with a hand pressed against the swell of her stomach, and watches the scenery change as the car speeds its way towards the restaurant. Serena drops her head against Blair's shoulder, shifts her eyes to look at the brunette when she hears a deep sigh escape from Blair's lips.

"S?"

"Yeah, B?"

There's a pause, a quiet beat as Blair runs a hand over her belly. Serena lifts her head and gazes at her best friend in a questioning look, watches the way Blair smiles at the curvature of her belly.

"When we're both back in the city, we have one place we'll need to shop at immediately," Blair informs her without ever taking her eyes off her blossoming form. "I think Chuck Bass' son needs a bowtie from Turnbull and Asser, don't you?"


End file.
